3-minute read
Lakeland lost one of its civic-minded citizens and LkldNow lost a good friend when Hollis Hamilton Hooks, 74, died recently.
Hooks, a retired financial advisor, was a Lakeland native who served on the Polk County School Board in the 1990s, where he helped draft the school district’s first strategic plan; in 2015, he was inducted into the Polk Public Schools Hall of Fame.
Hooks pushed the plan that was eventually adopted to create magnet schools as part of the effort to desegregate public schools, The Ledger reported.
Michael Tamney, a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley in Lakeland, recalls working with Hooks at the time. “I would see Hollis coming in the office late in the afternoon having been at school board meetings all day and settle in to his office chair to start communicating with his clients through the evening,” Tamney said, noting how struck he was, “as a young, impressionable person,” by Hooks’s work ethic.
Hooks’s civic involvement included chairing the Lakeland Regional Medical Center board and serving on the boards of the hospital’s foundation, the Polk Education Foundation, and the Polk Museum.
He had many friends. An especially good friend was Ed Crenshaw, the retired chairman and CEO of Publix Super Markets.
“He’ll live on in many people’s lives in Lakeland,” Crenshaw said. “He just knew everybody, he’d reach out to people — and he was a busy guy!”
Crenshaw got to know Hooks well starting in 1980, when Crenshaw was new to Lakeland and Hooks, the Lakeland native, made sure he felt welcome and connected.
“He was quite a guy,” Crenshaw recalled, “very outgoing, a smart guy, involved in so many things … It was in his heart and soul to do things for the community he loved. It was his desire to make Lakeland a better place.”
Hooks also was on the board of Linking Community Now, the nonprofit parent of LkldNow. He’d been a longtime donor to LkldNow before that.
“He was a fan of the reporting that we did,” recalled Trinity Laurino, LkldNow’s executive director. “He was the son of a journalist, and I think a lot of this goes back to the fact that he had a deep appreciation for the importance of local news to our community.”
Asked to describe Hooks, Laurino said, “He was the best. He was authentic, he was humble, he was a straight shooter… He was really easy to talk to, because what you saw was what you got.”
Hooks was a product of Lakeland schools — Southwest Elementary, Southwest Junior High and Lakeland High School. After graduating from Mercer University with a degree in political science, he worked in Washington, D.C. for two years on the staff of then-U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles of Lakeland.
Moving back to Florida, he spent more than 40 years as a wealth manager with Morgan Stanley in Lakeland.
Hooks and his wife, Debbie Hooks, have two children, Emily Hooks and Hamilton Hooks, who both live in Lakeland.
Hooks told LkldNow in 2023 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2021 but thought he’d had it longer. At the time, he was participating in PunchWorX, a boxing program at the Kelly Recreation Center that helps people with Parkinson’s disease.
It was physical therapy, but Hooks, typically, found more. “I can’t say enough fine things” about the boxing group, he related at the time. “That’s the best thing about the program, the new folks that you meet.”
He summed up his work ethic in a 2015 profile:
“My philosophy has been, ‘Keep your head down, do the right thing, be proud of what you’ve done in Lakeland, and try not to blemish the good name that your father left you.’”
latest news
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Hollis was a good man, as was his father, Homer. Many thanks for all that he did for the community, and love sent to his family and friends.
Met Hollis as lifeguard at Lkld Yacht club as it was back then!
Were neighbors with his Mom on Hollingsworth hill! Always a great good family that loved Lakeland and Hollis on many boards to make a difference and he did! An honor to know you— job well done- thank you Hollis❤️
If he was anything like his father, he was indeed a good man. My condolences to the family. Lakeland is lucky to have you!
A true gentleman! He was able to bridge political divides for the good of all. And people always confused us with our first and last names!
Hollis was always so nice to me as a young person trying to start a career in financial planning. I have never forgotten his kind spirit and generosity.
Hollis recently joined our daily lunch group and attended when he could. Always positive and smiling. He was open about his condition but never complained about it. He will be missed.
One of Lakeland’s finest, always enjoyed my time with Hollis, as generous as they come, he will be missed!
Hollis worked at Lakeland Ford in the mid seventies and I leased a couple of my cars with him. We also used him as our financial advisor when he went to SmithBarney. Great man. RIP Hollis.
Hollis and I were friends for over 60 years, our father’s were friends. When I retired and moved back to Lakeland I worked with Hollis as my financial advisor at Morgan Stanley. When I saw him at his office I was amazed by the many, many recognition plaques he had received. I asked him how he had time to work, and he gave me a typical Hollis smile!
He will be missed by many !
My heartfelt condolences to Debbie, Emily and Hamilton. He will be missed!
I had the privilege of serving alongside Hollis on the Polk Education Foundation board. He was a steady force and consistently deliberate in his words and actions. A true gentleman.
A wonderful man and family. He and Debbie were so welcoming to Joyce and I when we moved to Lakeland.
I like others had the privilege of knowing Hollis a number of years. He always set a great example. Class act. The type of person that never met a stranger. Debbie I know your heart is broken. I feel you. God bless.
Hollis was a fighter. He will be missed.